Why Android fans need to stop acting butthurt over iOS 7

Oh man, did you hear that Apple totally copied Android Jelly Bean for its new iOS 7 release!? Yeah, they changed things up but it looks so much like Android/Microsoft/WebOS.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Pretty much everywhere I looked this week I saw Android people complaining about Apple’s new OS. Not for nothing, but I took a few digs myself.

Sure, iOS 7 is an awful lot like some of the aesthetics that we’ve seen in apps and platforms that have been around for a while. Sure, it’s totally different from anything that Apple’s done thus far, but it’s more of a coat of paint than anything. Sure, it’s likely going to cause a lot of developers to create copycat designs and ROMs. But that’s not why I’m here. All of this, rather, makes me excited about the future of Android.

[pullquote3 align=”center” textColor=”#4f4abf”]There’s nothing new under the sun, but Apple never claimed there was.[/pullquote3]

Think about it, most of the core features of Android seem to be at least one generation ahead of the other players. Things like notifications, multi-tasking, and folders are the stuff we take for granted and have been around for ages. Indeed, the mob complains when Apple “introduces” features such as panoramic photos or a new lock screen as the Cupertino gang isn’t inventing anything new.

Apple hasn’t done much inventing of new products or services in the last few decades. What they do, however, is take the stuff that previously exists and repackage it with an eye toward user experience. The family computer, MP3 player, and tablets were not new when Apple rolled them out. Didn’t matter, though, because Apple sells a boatload of their own designs.

Apple, for its part, should stop using so many adjectives to convince people they are ahead of the game. Terms like “magical” and “revolutionary” are tossed around all too often and people mistake this for leading-edge. Whatever…it’s Marketing 101 and Apple’s one the best professors around.

Getting back to iOS 7 and its eerily similar design to Android 4.0+, it’s something that cannot be denied. There are countless blogs and reports online that show just how much the two now resemble each other and some of them are quite fun to read. Yes, Apple “borrowed” from Android (and other platforms). No, this is not the first time.

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o why should Android users be excited about the new Apple mobile OS? In a word – validation. This validates Google’s direction and design choices for Android. Not only has Google gotten much better at how things look and operate, but they do it in rapid iteration. Here’s a new feature, there’s a new look, here’s an update to improve things.

Think about all the great stuff that Android still offers over competition; universal and simple sharing, multi-windows, widgets, NFC support, and the ability to install apps from anywhere come to mind.

I’m reminded of conversations I’ve had with companies offering (free and paid) services that Google ultimately adds into Android. I would wrongly assume that these guys would be mad that Google was now offering the same stuff they did. As it turns out, these companies loved it because it validated their efforts. Wouldn’t you like to know that you were a year or two ahead of Google?

[pullquote2 align=”center” textColor=”#fa950b”]It wasn’t all that long ago that Android was ridiculed for being clunky and unfriendly to users. Now it’s in the pole position.[/pullquote2]

Looking forward, we should be excited at how things progress with the next release(s) of Android. I don’t know about you but I’m anxious to see all the little features and user interface choices that come with 5.0 or Key Lime Pie… or whatever it’s called.

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he sooner we all accept that Android’s going to be copied, the better. Along those lines, the more advances we see in Windows Mobile, iOS, and BlackBerry, the better. We need true competition and innovation because with them, things don’t progress.

It doesn’t matter who has more market share or how profitable each is. What matters is that all players keep the others on their toes. It’s a stupid old adage, but in the end we all win. We’re just fortunate enough to have a head start in the race.

Just come to terms with the fact that you’re a hipster and you’re mad that everyone likes your band.

22 Comments

“Apple, for its part, should stop using so many adjectives to convince people they are ahead of the game. Terms like “magical” and “revolutionary” are tossed around all too often and people mistake this for leading-edge. Whatever…it’s Marketing 101 and Apple’s one the best professors around.”

Yeah when I worked in Cupertino, we all dreaded having to deal with the Apple snobs. It’s not just the company people either, it’s the fact they don’t know the definition of innovation and throw it around taking credit for all the open source goodies on the market. And all the idiot followers don’t know or understand the market so they go right along with it.

Yes, everyone gets ideas from others, but all the Apple hate comes from them suing and get our favorite Android phones delayed or banned. It seems how everyone forgets that part.

Two of the patents Apple sued Samsung for – pinch to zoom and the bounce back patent have been invalidated- meaning Apple didn’t invent them. Who’s going to give Samsung their money back for defending themselves and the remaining damages in that case?

Apple fights dirty. A bit surprised that didn’t come up in an article on Android / Apple and “copying”.

Please understand that I am not an Apple fanboy, but an opinion should be fair and reasonably accurate. Apple pretty much introduced ‘family’ computing: Apple I, IIe, Macintosh (where btw Excel & Word were born), Lisa ($$$$ but cool as hell). They also had one of the first tablets (Newton). Most of this stuff was before Linux was put together (early 90’s) and Microsoft still had an 80×25 console. And they actually took a pretty radical step when they dumped the old Apple OS and let it be reborn with the Mach Kernel and parts of Berkley BSD. Also Apple hardware is about as good as it gets: MacBook Air copied by multitudes of ‘ultrabooks’, Google Pixel (I have one ) and others.

“Apple copies a bunch of features from Android, calls it iOS5″, “iOS 6 Blatantly Rips-Off Android”

Actual titles from past articles. We really really need to get over it. It’s not going to stop. I don’t want it to stop. I don’t think anybody should own software ideas or concepts. Hopefully, they will fix the patent system so that’s actually true for software patents in the future.

I think Android doesn’t need validation, it needs a lot of marketing. Android needs to show how powerful, feature intensive, customize-able and flexible it is to people.

Nexus is okay for tech-savvy people but the openness of the platform is too wild for many newbies & non-techies. So parallel to Nexus Android needs another brand name to grab all non-tech-savvy consumers. This brand should provide guided settings for most important features (saving battery life, limiting data usage for apps, setting up wifi, importing contacts, importing media library, importing SMSes, syncing with cloud & desktop etc)… X-Phone can become that brand, a brand for consumers where they can see all the best apps of the platform.

Does Google really care about Android? Look at all the Google goodies available on IOS! All this hatre is totally unnecessary. Go ahead and hate Android or IOS, It doesn’t matter. Google wins in the end.

Personally I don’t mind that Apple has borrowed from WebOS, Android and Windows Phone as heavily as they did. IOS is improved for it. Now let’s see if ‘Sharing’ is a two-way street. If Apple stops suing others over things as ridiculous as the “rounded rectangle’ and ‘colorful grid of icons’ fiasco I think everyone will be a bit more civil. That and if iFans would stop acting like Apple invented everything including the lightbulb…

They sued stores, dev’s, companies for bs! Now that they don’t have shit they’re saying EFit have no choice but to flat out copy & still get away with it. Anyway they saved a load of money by sending there money to other countries in order not to pay taxes… Then brag how much money they have! Yeah we the people spend money a lot of money on your hardware apple & you EF us over by not paying your taxes ,..Pathetic.

People hate ios because it does not have android features Apple puts android features on ios, more people hate ios LOL Some people are just impossible to please. Why does it matter so much who copied who or who claims they did it first? What are you gonna do about it besides complain on internet? That’s right you wont do jack. If Google didn’t sew them or do anything about it then why do you people complain? btw ios:2007 Android:2008 Not a fanboy but if anything google copied the ios they just made it open source which is awesome.

Yawn, who cares about the OS, I want the coolest phone. And cool is a loaded word, what I can’t stand are silicon valley techies (aka overpaid tech evangelists) telling what’s in, what’s out, what’s cool, what’s not cool in my next phone. I estimate 99% of the people who use smartphones, use about 5% of their capabilities. Ya, I’m in the 99%. And ditto for laptops and tablets.